Cyclone leaves 'millions' homeless
Pastor Dale Morgan
Cyclone leaves 'millions' homeless*
From correspondents in Bangkok
May 07, 2008 03:36pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
MILLIONS of people in Burmas have been left homeless by a devastating
cyclone and piles of bodies have begun rotting in the disaster zone, aid
agency Save the Children says.
Cyclone Nargis which slammed in the southern coast on Saturday has left
at least 22,000 people dead and another 41,000 missing by the official
count, but the toll is expected to rise.
"There are 41,000 people missing but most people assume most of those
41,000 missing are dead," said Andrew Kirkwood, Burma country director
for Save the Children.
The agency is one of the few allowed to operate there.
"Clearly there are millions of homeless, but how many millions we don't
know," he said from Rangoon.
Mr Kirkwood said the organisation's staff had gathered harrowing witness
accounts from the worst-hit area of the Irrawaddy Delta region, a
low-lying agricultural region which was inundated by a huge storm surge.
"One team came across thousands of people killed in one township, with
piles of rotting bodies lying on the ground as the water had receded,"
he said.
There were "really worrying" reports that people were dying in the town
of Pyinkaya in the southwest of the delta, home to 150,000 people, which
had had no supplies of food or clean water since the storm hit.
"Assistance hasn't reached them yet and they are dying, completely
isolated," he said.
Save the Children said it was sending trucks from the main city of
Rangoon laden with food, tarpaulins, water treatment tablets, salt and
sugar in the hope that they could reach the most needy.
The repressive Burmese authorities have assured the charity it can
operate freely across the country, but like other foreign aid experts,
its staff based in Thailand continue to await visas to enter the country.
Mr Kirkwood said aid workers from abroad would soon be needed to operate
what should be a huge relief effort.
"Sustaining the operation is going to be a problem if we don't get
reinforcements," he said.